The American dream of rising from the bottom to the top is actually harder to do in America than in Western European countries. The new international study from Pew confirms what working Americans and the Occupy movement have experienced first-hand. In America, the rich are getting richer--and they're passing that advantage on to their children at the expense of everyone else.
The report offers one glimmer of hope: quality preschool education gives children of low-income parents a step up into the middle class.
According to the report's findings, "Preschool exposure can have lasting positive effects....... especially for low- and middle-income children."
SEIU members have lobbied congress, written letters to legislators, and worked to elect leaders who would support early education funding for the past several decades, including efforts during the past two years that have resulted in maintaining recent increases in Head Start funding in the 2012 budget.
"Remember that the country's future depends much on us, the early age educators," said Tami Mendez, a child care provider from Massachusetts. "One of the children in my day care could be the president, or a principal, or a great citizen, husband and father."
As for the sobering news about the challenges of rising out of poverty, SEIU has been waging a "Fight for a Fair Economy" for good jobs for the rest of us.
Unmentioned--and perhaps unexamined in the study--were how union membership and quality job training helps low-wage workers move into the middle class.
Child care providers in 16 states have formed unions to address this very issue, and providers in Massachusetts like Tami Mendez are now working through their union to expand child care provider programs.
The full report from Pew's Economic Mobility Project can be found here [pdf].
